Technology.Life.Insight.

One of the unfortunate design choices Microsoft made for Windows 8 was suppressing the Windows Update icon and notifications in the system tray on the desktop side of the OS. In Windows 7 this was especially useful for those of us who like to be notified of available updates but prefer to make the decision when to download and install. If you use Windows 8 but live on the desktop side, the only notification you will see will be on the lock screen.

Developer David Warner at quppa.net created a free lightweight tool to remedy this problem called the Windows Update Notification Tool.

This tool replaces the missing icon in the system tray and will provide the familiar notification popup when updates are available as well as when a pending restart is required after an install.

Not a fan of the new Win8 update icon? No problem, this tool will let you change it back to the Win7 style.

Simple and functional this tool fixes an ultimately very minor but persistent gripe for desktop users of Windows 8. Well done David, thanks for your efforts!